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Photographer Matt Doggett used dead mackerel to attract the birds in a remote location off northern Scotland.

"I like this image, as almost every stage of the action is captured—gannets entering the water, gannets eyeing up the fish, gannets taking the fish, gannets eating the fish and then finally leaving," Dogget said in a statement. "It looks like chaos, but the gannets know exactly where the other birds are."

Now in its fourth year, the British Wildlife Photography Awards recognize amateur and professional photographers while highlighting the "great wealth and diversity" of British nature. Judged by professional photography experts, the competition is open to all nationalities, but the pictures must have been taken in the United Kingdom.

As for this year's winner, it's a "striking image that manages to capture in parallel the raw power and grace of the diving gannets," judge Greg Armfield of the international conservation organization WWF said in a statement.

Sutton, who specializes in high-speed photography, described his motivation for the photograph in a statement: "I wanted to show people a bush cricket in mid-leap. We all see grasshoppers and crickets sitting on grass stems but never after they have just taken off. This had to be done in a controlled environment, using a special high-speed flash and an array of equipment. I think I caught the essence of the subject well."

A hare tucks back its ears and huddles against the cold, in a picture by Jules Cox. Cox captured the scene in Scotland's Cairngorms National Park, said to be home to the largest swath of mountainous Arctic acres in the British Isles.

A wasp prepares to take out the trash—fuzz pressed between mandibles—from a nest in a cavity wall in Tan-y-fron, Wales. Photographer David Thomas Handley had to use a stepladder to get the shot, which was taken above a garbage can in his backyard.

"As it was the weekend and there was nobody available to come and deal with the wasp's nest, I thought I may as well try and get some photos," Handley said in a statement.

A young gray seal blends into surrounding rocks as it explores a cave in the English Channel. "I saw a seal swim through this colorful cave, and so I waited ... and waited," photographer Alexander Mustard said in a statement.

"Starlings roost under the pier every autumn and winter and put on a great aerial display most nights," Jones said in a statement.

"I wanted something a little different, so concentrated on the perched birds looking out to sea with the movement of the flock beyond them. Given the poor weather, it took several visits to get the photograph I had in mind."

Photograph by Phil Jones, BWP Awards

"Living Landscapes" Winner

Whizzing cars in Devon create glowing streamers of light—and a barrier for wildlife—on a road that cuts across one of Britain's largest expanses of Culm grassland, a type of wetland.

"Sadly, the North Devon link road was put through the middle of this ecosystem," photographer Stephen William Powles said in a statement. "Taken at night, the image shows even more dramatically how the road has cut through this habitat. The deer sign further emphasizes the conflict."

Photograph by Stephen Powles, BWP Awards

"Animal Portraits" Category

A red deer stag peers between pine trees in Scotland's Cairngorms National Park. "Over the winter months some [properties] subsidize the feeding of the red deer to help them over the hard times," photographer Neil McIntyre explained in a statement.

"The estate where this shot was taken feed them in a pine wood, perfect for the shot I was after. After a few near misses, eventually one stag stood in the perfect position and I got the shot I wanted, with the out-of-focus tree trunks framing the stag."

Photograph by Neil McIntyre, BWP Awards

"Wild Woods" Winner

Photographer Jeremy Walker had to move quickly to capture sunlight streaming through Hampshire's New Forest—the shadowy pattern was constantly changing. But he called the work "an absolute joy."

It was a "classic autumnal afternoon: clear skies, a distinct nip in the air, and dappled light breaking through the golden canopy to play on the forest floor," Walker said in a statement. (See more pictures of fall foliage.)

Photograph by Jeremy Walker, BWP Awards

Winner: Young People's Award

Arctic terns greet each other in mid-flight in a picture taken by Ashley Butterworth, 14, which won the British Photography Awards' WildPix Young People's Award in the 12-to-18 category.